Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 95 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#71

Post by twawaaay »

kolp wrote: post #49

Domain investor here. Some, but not all of the advice here is absolutely dreadful and is an example of why you should not take advice from random strangers on the internet. Some basic rules if you wish to keep the domain: * Don't offer to sell the domain. If you are contacted by a prospective buyer, just decline, saying that the domain is not for sale. Don't counter-offer or enter into discussions or negotiations. *…

I would add the purpose of half of this advice is to make sure to prevent any possibility your domain possession is viewed as being used to monetise the name association with another legitimate company.

If your name is Apple and you somehow obtain new domain named apple.newtld you have a chance to loose the domain if there is any way it can be seen as profiting off of the association with the APL. For example if you put ads on a page that is nominally your personal page it can be seen as getting traffic from people who mistakenly came to this page since there is very little chance they came legitimately.

If it is large company they will be looking at every possible way to get your domain and the only way to fight it is to either spend huge amount of money on lawyers or not give any pretext, however small.

You are also as likely to lose the domain by a targeted attack by people who hope to then sell the domain. If you have a nice domain name you need to invest a bit of thought in protecting it from takover (locking the domain, protecting your information, not using your regular phone number, phone, email, laptop, etc. to have anything to do with the admin access to the domain).

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#73

Post by thiht »

sshine wrote: post #2

To prevent domain hijacking: Tip 1: Pick an enterprise-class domain name registry. Tip 2: Set up 2FA that isn't phone-based. Tip 3: Request DNSSEC from your registrar.

> registry

Registrar. You can't buy directly from the registry unless you become registrar yourself.

Some other important tips:

- make sure auto-renew is enabled with a reliable credit card

- make sure to update your personal data once a year. Registrars are mandated by the registry to send a reminder email once a year, but for an important domain I'd also set a recurring reminder every year, 2 weeks before expiration to make sure that everything is ok. You probably shouldn't "setup and *forget*" your domain names

- if you can afford it, make sure to register multiple years at once, the max is usually 10 years, but I'd recommend registering for only 9 years, because if you need to transfer to another registrar for some reason, the registration will be bumped 1 year. If you're already at 10, you're stuck.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#74

Post by tptacek »

sshine wrote: post #2

To prevent domain hijacking: Tip 1: Pick an enterprise-class domain name registry. Tip 2: Set up 2FA that isn't phone-based. Tip 3: Request DNSSEC from your registrar.

Setting up DNSSEC will not do anything to prevent domain hijacking, which is an attack that occurs at the registrar level.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#75

Post by zinekeller »

hmcamp wrote: post #67
kolp wrote: post #49

Domain investor here. Some, but not all of the advice here is absolutely dreadful and is an example of why you should not take advice from random strangers on the internet. Some basic rules if you wish to keep the domain: * Don't offer to sell the domain. If you are contacted by a prospective buyer, just decline, saying that the domain is not for sale. Don't counter-offer or enter into discussions or negotiations. *…

Tell me more about Godaddy, please. Why shouldn’t we use them?

Because they're incompetent. Literally just a week ago a report (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/godaddy-hacke...) just describe how GoDaddy is simply incompetent with security. This is in addition on having one of the worst customer support of all major registrars.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#76

Post by somehnguy »

nubinetwork wrote: post #17
somehnguy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your advice in how to protect their domain name is be willing to sell it and don’t bother putting up a fight…?

When it comes to registered trademarks, yes. I can't call myself Coke or Pepsi either. Don't confront them to offer them anything, let them come to you.

No offense but I think that is terrible advice. Basically ‘bend over for any corporation immediately’.

If the person holds an asset and isn’t doing anything malicious with it there is zero reason they should be forced to give it up just because some corporation wants it.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#78

Post by qbrass »

sys_64738 wrote: post #77

Also worth a read about an upstart computer company being sued. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps I always wondered how Apple Computer Inc. were allowed to enter the iPod business without being sued again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Corps_v_Apple_Computer

They were sued again. Apple Computer won the case.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#79

Post by kolp »

lname_dot_com wrote: post #61
kolp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most enterprise class registrars (registry =/= registrar) are brand protection and brand monitoring services. Quite expensive for individuals and probably not in the price range of OP, according to the description of his circumstances. I've used name.com, namecheap.com, sav.com and porkbun.com as registrars without difficulty, although one will always find anecdotal reports of problems other users have had with any s…

How about Cloudflare Registrar?

I like them as a company, but I wouldn't use them as a registrar if there was a significant risk of UDRP. Domains are not their core business and customer service is close to non-existent if you're not at least a pro-level customer. For your case, you should use a dedicated domain registrar, such as the ones I outlined earlier. Infomaniak is another registrar that I've found good in terms of customer service and price. They're Swiss based, and I've found them to be competent and professional.

Re: Ask HN: How to prevent a company from taking my domain name?

#80

Post by lname_dot_com »

kolp wrote: post #79
lname_dot_com wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about Cloudflare Registrar?

I like them as a company, but I wouldn't use them as a registrar if there was a significant risk of UDRP. Domains are not their core business and customer service is close to non-existent if you're not at least a pro-level customer. For your case, you should use a dedicated domain registrar, such as the ones I outlined earlier. Infomaniak is another registrar that I've found good in terms of customer service and pric…

I understand and really appreciate the feedback.
Post reply on HN